Book Details

Title: Daredreamers: A Start-up of Superheroes

Writer: Kartik Sharma, Ravi Sharma

Amazon: Buy here

Author Profile

Synopsis

India’s first start-up of superheroes with a mission of saving lives is here to kick ass.

Rasiq is riding the highs of life thanks to his successes as an investment banker. But his arrogance soon gets the better of him and he ends up losing everything he holds dear. Managing to salvage only his grit from the wreckage, Rasiq reboots his life and teams up with five uniquely talented superheroes to start a rescue venture
– DareDreamers.

These superheroes Nick: a crazy inventor; Halka: an inhumanly strong man; Arjun: a champion shooter; Natasha: a Bollywood stunt-double; Dr. Vyom, a medical Sherlock Holmes; and, of course, Rasiq: the mastermind combine their unique talents to deliver spectacular rescue operations. Their skyrocketing success, however, comes at a price an enemy hell bent on tearing down their fame and reputation.

Will DareDreamers defeat its wily adversary? Or will it become yet another failed start-up?

Treachery, action and adventure come alive to make DareDreamers a page-turner.

Non Review Rant

I have received a copy of the book from the author in exchange of a fair and honest review. Thank you Anna, for the opportunity to review your book, and for providing the review copy.

I review from a personal point of view. You will see my thoughts and feelings woven into the review. If you like only a summary of the book, then this review may not be as helpful. If you prefer a personal touch, please read on. Thank you!

Excerpts / Quotes / Highlights

Plot & Review

Part 1 is about Rasiq and his life as an investment banker. His first never-ending day reminded me of mine – I joined office on a Saturday. His stressed life and lack of sleep was also relatable. I continued reading only for that factor  – all corporate jobs suck; or they start to suck after some time. Or maybe, all jobs suck. Because we are lazy and job means work.

Two years and a break-up later, Rasiq realizes that the job isn’t his true calling. He quits the job. Part 1 finishes when Rasiq gets a business idea.

Part 2 starts with a time leap of one year. During the time, Rasiq has a team of handpicked members and they begin their struggle as a Security Startup – Daredreamers. They demonstrate their skills in one accident after the other. Midway through the story, we have a bad man who wants to stop the Daredreamers. He hires another bad man to help him.

I felt that part 2 could have been more elaborate about each of the team members and how they came to be. The one year leap sort of made it look easy.

Part 3 and Part 4 is where is the real action is. From struggling to find clients, to a point that the rival company hires a goon to eliminate the competition, the story is full of accidents. The accidents are unique in nature and the team comes up with equally unique plan for rescue.

The team is arrested and jailed where they survive torture but do not cave. They come out physically weak but with a strong emotional bond amongst them.

There are a few things that affected my reading experience.

What did not work

• The story started abruptly and I knew nothing about the characters. I didn’t get the whole back-and-forth between present-and-exchange-program.
• The IIT IIM trope.
• Too much swearing for my liking.
• The occasional dose of philosophy sometimes makes me think, and sometimes makes me shrug and move on.
• The story was a bit longer than I usually prefer to read.
• Clichéd language & too many word plays
  •  

    The gentleman’s fingers were studded with more rings than he could count

  • Gasped / grasped

• Really weird romance scenes which were flat and devoid of any emotions
• Abrupt and continuity problem- after Halka falls trying a jetpack, Anchala is shown to be present by his bed in the hospital for thirty six hours straight. What was Mr Rakeysh doing then?

What worked

I was amazed by the originality of ideas. I liked how each of the incident and the rescue was crafted in detail, and how all the team members play together in crisis. I particularly liked the one that involved home minister. It was something I had never heard of or read about.

The team goes through a roller coaster ride of failure and success, joy and bitterness, fame and shame. But they stick together.

The story of Rasiq and his team of DareDreamers is written in simple language. It demonstrates values like strong sense of self, teamwork, leadership, caring and supporting family. It has drama, suspense, romance, and occasional dose of philosophy.

Verdict:

Cover: 4 / 5
Plot: 4 / 5
Writing: 4 / 5

Overall rating: 4/5

Shabana Mukhtar

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